History and Memory
by arisaswordheart
Summary: Edward visits the house of his former life on his anniversary... Rosalie returns to where her old life faded into her new one. This is about history... and memory... the goods and the bads. This is about life, the present and ... the future.
1. History and Memory

**History and Memory**

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__Author's Note:_ Characters may sometimes appear out of character – I haven't read Twilight in months. And Edward was born in Chicago, this could well be Illinois, where Carlisle worked, beats me.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own any part of the Twilight Franchise. Empire?

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_Chicago_

_2018_

Edward stopped just outside the house he could still remember from his memories, even as long ago as they were. The details were just as he remembered, even though his memories had dulled over the years. There were still the ornate doors, the tall building, and the mastery of the garden around it. The only differences were the installation of the new technologies around the home. The house showed no signs of the recent developments, making way for sleek shiny buildings. It was very much a place for history and memory. For heritage.

It was the 100th anniversary; you could call it, of his death-day. Although he hadn't died at his house, he felt the house deserved a visit, and he felt he owed his parents that much, at least. The cloudy sky seemed appropriate for the visit, and he was relieved at least that the sun wouldn't be around to expose him for what he was.

Bella came up behind him sweeping eyes over the house appreciatively, a smile lingering on her lips as the door opened and a girl stepped outside the door. Spotting him and Bella as they turned their gaze to her, she stopped abruptly and stared at them. Edward noticed he seemed to share some features with the girl, certainly the reddish brown hair, but her eyes were a summer blue.

"Hello?" The girl called cautiously, watching the couple on the stairs.

"Hello." Edward called back, in a volume the girl would be able to hear.

"Who are you? Can I help you?"

Edward's brow furrowed in thought. What should he tell her?

"My name is Edward … Masen –"

"And I'm his… girlfriend, Bella Cullen, we were just passing through." Bella continued with a glance in Edward's direction. She could understand why he had told her his name was Masen, but still – it sounded odd. She very well couldn't tell the girl she was his wife either.

"Masen?" The girl's face lighted and she opened the door further, eyebrows raised in interest. Edward took this as an invitation to come closer and came forward a few steps, closer to the stairs. Bella followed. "Are you by any chance related to Elizabeth and Edward Masen? They used to own this house, around the 1900s."

Edward hesitated for a split second, then nodded. "Distantly," he tried. The girl still seemed cautious, but smiled at them and opened the door fully.

"Would you like to come in? I was just going to go and get a magazine, but it's not important. I would be glad to show a relative around the house. Was there a reason you came?"

"Not exactly." Edward replied as he and Bella stepped inside, Bella's gaze immediately went to the decorum with great interest – Esme would be interested, indeed.

"I knew I had … relatives here once, so we came to have a look at where they lived, since we were here."

"Yes." The girl's expression was sad. "The Masens lived here in the 1900s, but they died from the Spanish Influenza, I think. Our family inherited the house after they died, but noone really wanted to move in until years later."

Edward nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced to you."

"Oh." The girl smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean to be rude. My name is Lydia Marsh. My three times great grandmother was a Masen, but I don't think we were too close with our relatives here. Of course," She hastened to add, "It didn't mean they were devastated with the death of relatives."

Edward nodded absent mindedly. He would have picked up on her name earlier if she had been thinking it, but funnily enough the girl didn't seem to have that much clear thought, as if the thought process happened somewhere else in the body first. There were glimpses of emotion, and strangely enough, a few question marks marking her slight confusion and caution. Another strange mind, but still, one he could read, unlike the unique mind next to him glancing in the rooms.

As Edward and Bella followed Lydia through the vaguely familiar rooms, he compared them to the faded memories in his own mind, while also listening to her explanations and picking more detailed explanations from her own mind. It was clear Lydia knew a lot about the house which she was summarizing.

The rooms were furnished differently from how Edward remembered, but that was only to be expected. The rooms held the new technology which hadn't been visible from the outside. A plasma screen television mounted against the white wall, a micro computer in the corner with a large LCD screen, they were all changes, but the windows were still the same gleaming glass, covered with a set of heavy – albeit different – curtains.

As they finished the tour, Lydia turned back to Edward and Bella.

"Would you two like anything to eat or drink?"

Edward smiled wryly and glanced at Bella who was holding her face straight, but only just. "No, thank you. I think we're perfectly fine. Thank you for the tour." He let his gaze sweep the hall. "Is it alright if I ask you more about the family?"

"Certainly." Lydia replied. "Would you like to come to the Library? There are many books there that might be worth looking at."

"Sure." Edward replied. As they headed towards the library, Bella asked in a nonchalant voice, "I heard that the couple you mentioned earlier, Elizabeth and Edward Masen, they had a son?" Edward had been meaning to ask, but he was a little glad Bella had decided to instead. He was interested in what news had reached his relatives.

"He died shortly after his parent is the word. We don't know what happened to him, for all we know, he could have been buried in a mass grave. It was too chaotic to really know at that time, if my memory serves. I think my great great grandparents put up a grave for their whole family in one of the local graveyards. They deserved that, at least."

Edward stilled, aware of Bella's eyes fixed on him, worried. "Where is this?"

Lydia didn't seem to find his reaction odd. "It's a few blocks down and around the corner. It's a local graveyard, and if you wanted to find their graves they're near the west side, closer to the fence than to the middle."

Edward nodded. "I see. You know, I think I'm going to go and visit them now, actually. Thanks for the tour, I really appreciate learning more about my family and my past."

"It was my pleasure." Lydia smiled hesitantly as Edward turned abruptly and headed back to the front door, Bella following in his wake and smiling apologetically at the girl. "Good luck, and goodbye… cousin!" She called as Edward left the house in a hurry and headed down the street. Edward could hear her confusion and suspicion and her intent to see if anything was missing from the house, but they hadn't taken anything – or at least, he knew _he_ hadn't – so he didn't feel in danger of being ambushed by cops suddenly – not that it really mattered if they were. Still, it wouldn't be a smart thing to do, and he knew about smart things to do. A not-so-smart, but so worth it, 'thing' was walking quickly beside him.

"She was nice." Bella commented. "I'm glad we, or at least I, go to know more about your family. It's hardly fair, since you know all about mine. Of course though," She smiled apologetically, "It gets a little hard when your parents are dead."

Edward shrugged, smiling slightly. "Well, it's not like it's your fault."

They continued the walk to the graveyard and stopped outside the gate for a second as they assessed which direction was west, then they headed towards the graves.

"How about you take a few rows and I'll take a few rows?" Bella suggested.

"Fine with me. It won't take long either way."

They started on the rows, running, scanning the graves with precision and continuing. Edward had finished on his section, when he noticed Bella had stopped over a couple of graves. He went over quietly.

The graves were stone, and a little weathered with time, but perfectly readable and clear. The first two were his mother and fathers, but the third…

_This is the grave of_

_Edward Anthony Masen_

_1901-1918_

_Beloved Son, Cousin and Nephew_

_Who died all too young and unfairly_

Well, what did he expect? All the vampires were thought to have been dead, but seeing the grave was another matter. Edward didn't want to know what Bella was thinking, not this time, but he could guess nonetheless. If they hadn't told her parents, would Bella have her own grave? _This is the grave of Isabella Marie Swan, 1987-2006_…

Edward curled his hand around Bella's and she looked up.

"Let's go." Edward murmured and Bella nodded in agreement.

Hand in hand they left the graveyard, leaving the history, and memories behind.

Because it was time for the future.

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Please Review? I'll never get better at this rate. -___- Unless you think I'm good? Tell me! T_T

RAWR.


	2. H&M2: A Different Purpose

**History and Memory 2: A Different Purpose**

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_Author's Note:_ Hey, you asked for it. You wanted another chapter? You got one. :D

Characters may sometimes appear out of character – I haven't read Twilight in months apart from for reference for the story.

I'm sorry that this time the writing my be different, there's less description and a lot more memory and dialogue, but I hope that you enjoy it anyway.

_Disclaimer: _If I wrote Twilight, I wouldn't be here writing fanfiction… No offence!

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_Rochester, New York_

_2033_

They started up the streets of a busy Rochester. It was dark; the sky covered with grey clouds threatening rain, but the two figures walking along the street didn't hesitate for a second as they continued down the sidewalk.

Rosalie strode ahead, her heels clicking against the pavement as she swiftly made her way up the street. Emmett followed behind, taking in the sights as they moved quickly – almost a little too quickly – past houses, parks and finally, a deserted street.

Rosalie suddenly walked off the sidewalk and into the middle of the street, smiling a little sinisterly at a point near the middle of the road. Her hair swirled about her as the wind blew and the first drops of rain dripped to the ground.

Emmett came up behind her and knew better than to stand too close. He knew this visit wasn't going to be like the one Edward made years ago in Chicago – this one wasn't like that at all. This place held some good memories for Rosalie, but it also held some bad. Some very bad.

Rosalie stood there, remembering the night. The night she had been beaten and abused by Royce King and left for dead. The night she had punished him and taken out her retribution. The sheer terror on his face when she had turned out of the blue, more beautiful than ever before, hair and dress swirling like it did now in the wind, the men she had killed in seconds, his scream as she ….

"Rose! Rosalie."

Rosalie snapped out of it and turned to Emmett her min returning to the present again. She looked at him with love. Oh she might not always have treated him well, but she loved him and he knew that. Emmett came a little closer and took her arm.

"Come on, there must be better memories here for you." He drew her away.

Rosalie shook her head with bitterness even as her feet obeyed and led the way. No, not really. She remembered her life, beautiful and adored, but she'd truly wanted to be loved, wanted a family of her own, her own house, jealousy over her friend. The corner of her mouth quirked up slightly as she remembered.

She glanced back at Emmett once, glad of his presence. She was loved now and had a caring family, even if she could never have a child of her own to hold in her arms. Bella had given her a gift, at least, letting her hold little Renesmee and take care of her. Rosalie had felt those motherly instincts kick in and had loved her little niece. At least she had lived that kind of experience, if not able to give birth herself.

They reached the large house, finally and Rosalie looked over it. It seemed not much had changed as time passed, as often happened, but she was still a little surprised it hadn't been sold to build more high-rises over the top of it. Now, though, upon seeing the house, she could remember not only the bad things, but the good things too. A childhood with her brothers, caring parents.

She looked over the building, reawakening the memories as she looked over the heritage and the love which had been in the house. Through the window, as the rain fell harder, there was light and laughter.

Emmett watched Rosalie's face closely as she stared at the house. He had no desire to go visit his past or to reminisce about the bear attack on him, but accompanying Rosalie was something he had wanted to do. He wanted to know more about her, about her heartache and her life. He wanted to share and understand.

Rosalie inched closer to the door and Emmett knew what he could do. Striding past her, he knocked on the door. A minute later it swung open to a man who eyed them suspiciously.

"Could you please give us some shelter from the rain? We are immensely sorry for our intrusion. We just have no umbrellas and we don't want to get completely soaked."

"Of course." The man immediately became welcoming. "Come in, come in. Ruth, could you bring some towels?"

Rosalie stood dripping as she surveyed the house, letting Emmett do the talking and the convincing to let them stay – at least until the rain stopped.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice broke through her thoughts.

Rosalie nodded. The man had noticed her interest as she looked interestedly about the house. She could only guess what they thought though, they would probably think that they were here to steal something if they hadn't been dressed classily enough, as Rosalie had wanted to.

"Yeah, this is all original work. It's been a little restored, but otherwise, all original. I couldn't bear to change it, the beauty of this house, even though we had to do some renovations to the kitchen and break down a few walls to install electronics, but everything otherwise is completely original."

"It is very beautiful." Rosalie said simply.

A woman – who Rosalie assumed was Ruth – emerged from the living room with a bundle of towels.

"Oh dear, you're all soaked."

She quickly handed them a couple of towels each and they made to dry themselves off. As they handed them back, Ruth accidentally brushed against Rosalie's hand and immediately dropped the towel Rosalie had given her and clasped Rosalie's hand.

"Dear Lord, your hands are cold, my dear. Please, do come in and warm yourself."

Ruth led the way into the warm living room – not that it would make any difference to the two vampires – where the brighter lighting suddenly threw into sharp relief how familiar Ruth looked.

Rosalie blinked at the woman, noticing her blond hair and her deep blue eyes. She looked enough like Rosalie's own mother for it to be uncanny looking at her now. She also noticed the three children who watched the visitors curiously from where they were seated on a couch.

"I'm sorry, we should have introduced ourselves before we came in so rudely and invaded your home." Emmett apologized as they tried to dry off and 'get warm'.

Rosalie nodded and took control. "My name is Rosalie Hale and this is Emmett Cullen."

Ruth and her husband – who hadn't introduced himself yet – glanced at each other.

"I'm Albert and this is Ruth. I thought you two were husband and wife, I apologise for making that assumption."

"That's quite alright." Emmett replied. "My wife goes by her maiden name."

It was quite a thrill to be referred to as his wife, even if they had been married many many times.

"I see." Ruth's voice was soft as she replied. "My maiden name is also Hale."

Rosalie blinked and feigned surprise. It wasn't as if she hadn't guessed that. They would look a little similar if not for her eyes, which were – of course – golden now.

"I suppose we are related then." Rosalie smiled pleasantly.

"I suppose so." Ruth frowned. "I inherited this house, you know." She eyed her husband. "Could you get me the book?"

Albert frowned in a puzzled manner at her.

"You know. _That_ one?"

It dawned on him and he nodded and got to his feet to get it. He returned in a manner of seconds with a large leather-bound book – or it could even be an album. Judging by the fact it was leather-bound, it would be quite old. With all the synthetic materials around now, it was just easier to use synthetics now, even though it was true furs and leather and snakeskin and all of that was still prized.

Ruth flipped it open to a page with names and lines. A family tree. She slid it over to them.

Rosalie glanced down at it before up at the woman's face, which was unreadable. For once she wanted Edward's mind reading ability just to know what she was thinking right now. With the slightest shake, she turned her attention to the family tree again and looked over it carefully. She spotted her mother's name, her father's name. Then she froze.

Her name was written there alongside her brothers. She was connected by a line to the name Royce King and then both their names were crossed out. She felt violated somehow even marked as being joined to him. Emmett's hand touched her gently and he grounded her again. Rosalie shook him off and continued, looking over her brother's names with affection, even as she couldn't remember them much anymore, and followed the lines down to Ruth's name.

She looked up though, and Ruth's expression was troubled.

"Is something the matter?"

"Are we related?"

The question was a little blunt. Should she have lied about her name?

"Maybe distantly." Rosalie allowed. "I'm sure there are more Hales than the one family."

"But the name Rosalie…?" Ruth had accepted that, but the troubled look didn't disappear.

"Is common." Rosalie chanced. "There's nothing to it." She paused, playing for time, then moved her finger back onto the page. "What happened here, what happened to this Rosalie Hale?"

"We don't know. She went missing. Her fiancé, Royce King there went mad or something saying that she was after him and then he was murdered. We think she was probably murdered too. Apparently her mother was heartbroken and she went into what we know now was probably depression and killed herself."

Rosalie's dead heart ached for her mother's grief and suicide, but she could only blame one person for everything that had happened. She glanced outside.

"Well, I think the rains stopped enough now. I think we should be on our way, right, Emmett? We can't be late for that party."

"Right." Albert and Ruth stood up and followed Emmett and Rosalie to the door.

"Thank you for helping us." Emmett told them politely as they stepped out into the now slow drizzle.

"Anytime." Ruth replied, still a hint of that troubled expression in her eyes. The children had followed quietly from the living room and now crowded around their legs waving.

Albert gave a nod and closed the door, the chatter and laughing started up again as the children shed their shyness in front of the strangers.

"Come on." Rosalie commanded as she started off down the street again. Emmett followed without asking questions.

They made their way to the local graveyard where they stood at the gate for only a minute as the rain stopped and the clouds began to fade away a little before Rosalie made her way swiftly to the very noticable big family grave (or tomb, perhaps) for the King family.

Rosalie stood in front of it, her eyes and the way her mouth was positioned bitter as her eyes fixed on the name Royce King on the list. Then with a laugh, she flicked her hair and turned away contemptuously from the grave.

"Let's go, Emmett."

And they left he graveyard. Because she hadn't come here to remember her past and her happy life. She was here for a different purpose.

Royce King might have killed her, but she was, in the end, the victor.

And now, he knew who was really on top.

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I feel this will be all I am going to write on History and Memory. To me, I feel that Rosalie and Edward stories are the only ones I want to tell. Emmett and Jaspers aren't for my telling and Alice I've already explored before ('From the Darkness'). I also don't feel that Esme's story is for me as well as having already explored Carlisle before ('3 Centuries'). If you want to read about them, I suggest you visit my profile?

Thanks for reading. Review please? I really welcome it and I reply, even if I reply a lot later.

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